Ladybug published in Refresh Magazine, Nov. 2020

LADYBUG

Upon a mint leaf appeared a beet-red ladybug.

Her left wing dilapidated, her black eyes tearing,

She whispered into my ear, “My heart feels a-tug;

…my love has left me, and thus, I am fearing.”

I inquired as to what had occurred.

She turned her gaze towards the dampened ground.

“Infidelity,” was the only word.

She fluttered a wing, without a sound.

“What is heartbreak?” we asked one another.

The male species is so damn unsatisfied.

Heartbreak is when a heart no longer flutters;

It is faced with a stomping reality: he lied.